Thursday, 19 April 2012

Qatada and his family have cost the British taxpayer an estimated £2.8m

Last November I wrote this when our illustrious Home Secretary, Theresa May, was under pressure to resign following a complete mess up within the Border Agency. She managed to survive that one. Whether or not she deserves to survive the Abu Qatada fiasco is another question.

Qatada is a Jordanian who came to the UK with his family is 1993 and was granted asylum in 1994. He was convicted, in his absence, in 1999 by Jordanian courts for terrorism offences and his extradition was requested. Since 2002 Qatada has been in and out of custody while British authorities have tried to secure his extradition to Jordan. Qatada has, unsurprisingly, fought this extradition tooth and nail. In February 2009 the Law Lords decided that he could be extradited to Jordan. Qatada's lawyers appealed this to the European Court of Human Rights.

On the 17th January 2012 the European Court decided that Qatada could not be extradited as it would breach his right to a fair trial. While the British Government sought assurances regarding this issue from Jordon, Qatada was released on bail. Having received these assurances, the Home Secretary decided to have Qatada arrested and deported on the Tuesday 17th April in the belief that this date was outside of the 3 month appeal limit on the European Courts decision.

There have been a number of cases from the European Court that have made it clear that the appeal period starts on the day after the decision of the Court. It has come to light that a number of legal experts contacted the Home Office to ensure they were aware that the appeal period ended on the 18th April. Somehow this information was overlooked and the arrest went ahead followed immediately by the inevitable appeal. This now means that, once again, Qatada cannot be deported and another lengthy and expensive appeals process will now commence.

It has been estimated that Qatada and his family have cost the British taxpayer £2.8 million, to date, in benefits and legal fees.

Theresa May has clearly been badly advised in this matter but she is the decision maker and ultimately responsible. There are always calls for incompetent public sector managers to be sacked. I think it is time Mrs May stepped up to the mark and threw herself on her sword.

Tuesday, 10 April 2012

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that five suspected terrorists, Babar Ahmad, Abu Hamza, Seyla Talha Ahsan, Adel Abdul Bary and Khaled Al Fawarz can be extradited from Britain to America. The decision on a sixth, Haroon Rashid Aswatt has been adjourned to a later date.

The Court found that there were no grounds to believe the suspects would be ill treated in America and dismissed their appeals.

The liberal lefties are howling from their rafters. When you get down to it though, the only thing they seem to be wailing about is that in America, if these suspects are convicted, they might actually face some consequences for their alleged behaviour.

I am still wailing about the fact many of these suspects have spent years in British prisons awaiting extradition. They have fought the extraditions tooth and nail while blood sucking lawyers have bled millions from the Legal Aid system and the taxpayer trying to keep them here.

He claims that he has seen no evidence against him but it is quite clear that he is very well aware of the case against him and he chooses words carefully to try and gain support. Ahmad is a graduate and the son of middle class Pakistani immigrants. He admits that during the Bosnia/Serbian conflict he joined a Bosnian unit fighting against the Serbians. He is not an armchair commentator.

It is alleged, and he did not deny in interview, that he ran a website called Azzam.com which supported Jihad and Chechen and Taliban fighters, although he claims he does not support terrorism. It is alleged that he had possession of a computer disc containing information regarding movements of the US 5th Fleet and the fact that the fleet was vulnerable to attack in the Straights of Hormuz. An American sailor has been convicted of selling this information to Babar and another.

Ahmad states in interview that if he was tried and had been convicted in this country he would be free by now. How true. This is the real issue. The only reason Ahmad is still in detention here is that he has been fighting tooth and nail, at taxpayers expense, his extradition to the United States. Ahmad could have gone to the US in 2004 and faced trial there. He knows that the Americans don't mess about with terrorists and if he were convicted he faces the rest of his life in gaol. He desperately wants to be tried in Britain as he knows that should he be convicted his sentence will be little more than he has already served.

The European Court of Human Rights will announce their long awaited verdict on his extradition next week. Personally, I hope he is packed off to the US for trial as soon as possible.

Quotation of the Day

Statement of Intent

The opinions and views expressed here are mine, and mine alone. They do not necessarily reflect the policies and views of the Utopian Police Force nor the City of Utopia.The stories I tell here are all true but my purpose is not technical accuracy. My purpose is to illustrate the nature of policing in an educational and entertaining way.

I have tried to respect the privacy of the citizens of the city and to relate specific facts without identifying individuals. I believe I succeed in this but if you do recognize yourself and believe others will too, please contact me and I shall rectify it.